FanPost

The Indians should Target Mitch Haniger

The Seattle Mariners are rebuilding, again, and are open for business according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo. Overall this can complicate the trade market for Cleveland, especially if the Mariners entertain offers for James Paxton. However, it also opens up an opportunity to improve our outfield: namely trading for the cost controlled Mitch Haniger.

The Player: Mitch Haniger

Mitch Haniger burst onto the scene last season as a 26 year old right fielder. He hit a reasonably robust: .282/.352/.491 in the pitching friendly Safeco Field. He followed up his rookie campaign with an equally strong season this year: .285/.366/.493. Overall, he's batted .284/.361/.492 (OPS+ 135) in over 1,000 plate appearances, so this is not a small sample size. Importantly, he also offers some reasonable defensive value as well. According to Baseball Reference Mitch has provided 12 fielding runs the past two seasons in right field.

To make things better Haniger is not arbitration eligible yet, and thus costs only the major league minimum. His controllable seasons match up nicely, as the earliest he can become a free agent is 2023. Those years coincide with the years we control Jose Ramirez (and is one year longer than we control Francisco Lindor).

The Fit

The fit is obvious, with the Indians relying on Leonys Martin, Tyler Naquin, Oscar Mercado, Jason Kipnis and Greg Allen in the outfield: Mitch Haniger brings an All-Star presence to right field which we will miss with Michael Branltey departing via free agency. The new Indians lineup would look like:

SS: Francisco Lindor
RF: Mitch Haniger
2B: Jose Ramirez
DH: Edwin Encarnacion
3B: Yandy Diaz
LF: Jason Kipnis
1B: Yonder Alonso
C: Yan Gomes
CF: Leonys Martin

Although losing Brantley hurts, this lineup might actually score more runs in 2019 than we did in 2018, especially if we can slot Yandy Diaz in first base and find another outfielder to pair with Haniger (maybe we resign Michael Brantley...).

The Cost

Steep, but perhaps more in terms of younger talent since the Mariners are rebuilding. Yu-Chen-Chang is blocked by Lindor, so he would make sense here, as would Nolan Jones. Triston McKenzie is probably a given, but perhaps not if the Mariners like some of our younger prospects in the lower minors. I frankly know far less about the minor leagues than I do about MLB players, so I would leave it to other analysts to suggest what Haniger would cost.

On the financial side, Haniger fits well into our budget. Even if we decline to increase payroll in 2019: Haniger fits right in. If we can move a contract, he does nothing to damage our ability to pursue help elsewhere.

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